Ellie was at the wrestling meet cheering on her son when he collapsed. She accompanied him to the hospital. Seth needed surgery, and Gregory House tricked Chase into giving Seth a cochlear implant at the same time. Ellie was furious, but House deflected her anger, saying that she was merely pretending to be furious because she refused to confront her son about treatments for his deafness. He told her that they couldn't remove the implant until he recovered in any case. Nevertheless, Seth tried to rip it out himself.